The crowds, while never being anywhere remotely near full, have been larger than those in England or in Sri Lanka.

After Manjrekar made a comment that cricket fans in India are Indian cricket mad and not cricket mad specifically seeing the crowds we have had in this tournament, I have seen a lot of musing over the crowds in the tournament over all. While that may not exactly be a direct consequence of the Manjrekar comment, it is still a bit irritating.

Firstly, all matches of the tournament are in 3-4 venues. It cannot be expected that people will throng all matches when they have options and will obviously prefer matches they find more competitive. The home team matches will obviously have larger crowds. Also, stadiums are quite large as far as capacity is concerned.

The atmosphere in the West Indies-Australia match was tremendous and that wasn't a match India was playing. A fairly large crowd though still not 100% full stadium. I am quite happy with the crowd numbers we have seen and expecting larger crowds as some people have done at various ends would be a big mistake in the first place.

Best part so far has been the dominance of bowlers, rather than batsmen. And just some good, close games.

Originally Posted by flibbertyjibber

Only a bunch of convicts having been beaten 3-0 and gone 9 tests without a win and won just 1 in 11 against England could go into the home series saying they will win. England will win in Australia again this winter as they are a better side which they have shown this summer. 3-0 doesn't lie girls.

The color of immortality, nature and envy - you are truly a unique person. While clearly the color of nature, you also symbolize rebirth, fertility and hope in the world. On the other side of the spectrum, a natural aptitude to money with green coming to signify money and possibly even *********!

Yeah but you're looking at it from an English cricket fan's perspective, not a cricket fan's perspective. I'm not going to judge the tournament on the fact that England are playing crap players, I'm judging it on the fact there's been good cricket. Couldn't care less about whether England are warming up for the Ashes or not.

I try not to forget that cricket is a world sport, and not just for the colonials.

Yeah cool. Was a little worse for wear when I posted that.

Carry on.

Member of the Rosalie Birch Appreciation Society (RBAS)Member of CVAAS - go Joe

Brazil sadly is all about Nike these days, well has been since the '98 final really; the team I used to love is now a marketing machine.

More of a League man myself, don't think NZ have won a World Cup at Union so I'm not sure where you're going with that, I'm a romantic so can sort of see what you mean, supporting the men who ultimately have no balls etc but play attractively, they are the Croatia of rugby perhaps, such a little place.

As for West Indies, bollocks. I remember the days of the black washes, the Islands' juggernaut that had no sympathy for anyone; they can have another few years in the wilderness for me.

E2A: and really, a few wins in a warm up for the WC isn't really a "re-emergence of the Windies", they need to start winning Test series', plus they lost to us which is unforgivable in ODIs if you fancy yourself.

I think someone once said of Brazil that England may've invented football, but Brazil perfected it. That's pretty much what I mean with the ABs & the Windies. They might not have won Bill since 1987, but the All-Blacks play Rugby with an instinct & a verve that we can only aspire to. Where our backs see a wall of defenders, their best players see the space. When one sees the best Brazilians they look like they might have been designed with football in mind; with the profusion of Maori, Samoan & Tongan blood in NZ one can say the same of New Zealanders & Rugby.

I guess because they were so dominant in my formative years the idea of the Windies being the premier test nation has stuck with me. In the 80s the idea of us taking a test from them, much less a series, seemed insane. Their bowling may've lacked variety & even much subtlety, but one couldn't help but marvel at the athleticism of yer Marshalls, yer Bishops & yer Pattersons.

I agree with what you say about the Windies not sympathising with our plight over the nigh-on three decades they consistently rolled us over but much as you despair of Nike's involvement with Brazil, all the reports of the influence of (shudder) American sports in the Caribbean brings out my peculiarly English paternalistic concern for their future as a cricketing nation. I'll only be happy when they're dicking us 5-zip again.

"The PFA does not represent players when they have broken the law and been convicted on non-football matters."- Gordon Taylor in 2009 following Marlon King's release after a prison sentence for sexual assault & ABH

The potential re-emergence of the Windies as a genuine world force is a huge plus for mine. Much as football needs Brazil & Rugby Union needs the All Blacks I think cricket needs the Windies. They play the sport in a different way.

It is really important they have a good World cup for the future of cricket in the carribean and the tournament. Would be great to see them win it and its not an impossibility.

In the end, I think it's so utterly, incomprehensibly boring. There is so much context behind each innings of cricket that dissecting statistics into these small samples is just worthless. No-one has ever been faced with the same situation in which they come out to bat as someone else. Ever.

I agree with what you say about the Windies not sympathising with our plight over the nigh-on three decades they consistently rolled us over but much as you despair of Nike's involvement with Brazil, all the reports of the influence of (shudder) American sports in the Caribbean brings out my peculiarly English paternalistic concern for their future as a cricketing nation. I'll only be happy when they're dicking us 5-zip again.